Srinagar(Online): In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of his Hurriyet forum, Mirwaiz Umar Frooq has said that the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir can be resolved as early as possible if the international community wills so.
Mirwaiz deplored that the will of nations was subservient to their self and strategic interests, “otherwise our just struggle based on the universal principle of self determination and the tremendous sacrifices would have generated more support and outrage globally. We have to keep in mind that if we want to be our own masters than it will not happen immediately.
The freedom is not going to be a now or never situation. Peoples subcontinent got freedom after more than 200 years of struggle, Palestinians are struggling for decades even though they have so much world support, the blacks in America despite all the talk about equality in that country have to tell the world that ‘Black lives matter.”
According to press release issued on Tuesday, Mirwaiz acknowledged that the current uprising was unprecedented in the 70 years history of our Kashmir’s resistance movement. “What made it so? Basically there are two things, first the complete and comprehensive involvement and identification of the entire population of the Kashmir Valley- from Drass to the Chenab valley- with the resistance movement and second, the unequivocal and single clear cut message: the demand for Aazadi (freedom).” He added that the previous agitations of 2008, 2009 and 2010 were issue based, but the 2016 uprising was a revolt.” It signaled the commitment and determination of Kashmir’s next generation to the ultimate goal, nothing less, he said, and added that it was a people’s uprising representing their aspiration for Azadi, not for fulfillment of some immediate demands.”
Justifying the protest calendar the Hurriyet leader said, “The space for any kind of expression of protest is highly constricted. Any one protesting and challenging the might of the tormentor is killed blinded and pelleted mercilessly, leadership is gagged and caged, strict curfew and restrictions are put in place; the entire valley turned into a vast jail. People are angry and resistant to this state dictatorship. In such a situation, the strike becomes the only and means of protest. The protest calendars are a reflection and represent peoples collective voice against the state’s highhandedness and oppression, especially when all other means of protest have been choked.”
He said that the current uprising has taken our movement forward and opened out the possibilities and widened scope of our struggle. “It is now time to work upon these possibilities and deepen the scope of the struggle. The meaning and understanding of protest has to be extended, mechanisms for public participation in decision making and implementation have to be created. It is in this context that the united resistance is working on a long term sustainable strategy based on proactive initiatives, programs and sustainable modes of protest,” he added.
